Afghanistan's Civic Reality

"Corruption is part of life here. anybody who thinks there is a fix for that I think is unrealistic. It will have its cycle and eventually go away. You have to understand that after 30 years of war these old men who run the country don't know anything else. These are not politicians. These are bullies. It will eventually come to an end and a new generation we are hoping will change things and think of the future and not just the present." Kabul businessman, Hasib Sayed

Well, he's hopeful, but then he's young, very young. At age 30 an established businessman who has another home in Toronto and bears Canadian citizenship. He returns to his country of birth on occasion, he says, to 'hand out money'. Which is profoundly generous and most kind of the man. But when he attributes corruption to 30 years of war, he's being deliberately obtuse; it has been ever thus, a fine old tradition.

Warlords have always been in business, in Afghanistan. Hungry for territory and power and money. And competing tribal loyalties have always informed life in the country. Afghanistan has been invaded by foreign occupiers since time immemorial, and Afghans have fought back to reclaim their country and drive out the foreign armies that have laid waste to it. Little wonder Afghans are fiercely suspicious of foreign presence in their homeland.

And because ordinary Afghans have never had the opportunity to live in a free society, their children well schooled and educated, jobs available for all who wish to work. Women have been denied emancipation in a patriarchal, religiously intolerant country based on male domination over the subservient sex whose only acknowledged function is to serve the male and raise his offspring. They see the corruption that prevails with an impotent and self-serving government.

Western governments and their citizens salve their guilty consciences (where 'guilt' should not even raise its embarrassing little head) by peeling off bank notes to aid and assist the poor people of Afghanistan whose human rights have been since forever violated, and whose religion ensures they're kept ignorant and in thrall. So what has a decade and more of financial support to the people and the government of the country accomplished?

Funny you should ask.


There it is, the great accomplishment that billions in foreign aid have gifted to the strife-weary country. Cronies of the government, war lords that sit in the country's parliament, they are the ones that sift through foreign aid to enrich themselves with mansions whose funding should have created civic infrastructure to serve the needs of the population. Conditions in Kabul are medieval, with open sewers and bombed-out neighbours and destitute families.

Foreign aid represents about 84% of the country's GDP. Poverty reigns supreme. There is a veritable food-chain of corruption, where the most incidental service must be paid for discreetly, where bribes are so commonplace, there is no expectation whatever that without a bribe, however modest in nature, anything can be accomplished. The powerful and the wealthy have become that way because of the system that prevails, draining funding from impoverished needs to politically connected wants.

"It is very difficult now to get rid of these warlords, these criminals. At the beginning the Afghans had a golden chance to bring these criminals to justice including the Taliban but they lost that opportunity. I believe this country is going toward another civil war, much bloodier and much uglier. Americans brought more weapons to this country. I believe as soon as the government collapses the army and police will divide into two factions each down the middle with one side joining the Taliban and the other side joining the warlords." Habib Zahori, writer, journalist, 28

When it was revealed last year that the Kabul Bank suddenly was drained of its assets, it wasn't a sudden accomplishment, but a slow and steady removal of money when about $900-billion was revealed to have vanished; no paperwork, but a suspected no-interest 'loan' arrangement dispensed to government insiders, including a half-brother of Hamid Karzai. The last election was undeniably tampered with, enabling Hamid Karzai to return as president. Afghan law does not permit a third term and Karzai has recently stated he will not run again.

Sumptuous villas have been built in a neighbourhood of Kabul to house the families of warlords, bankers, government ministers, businessmen and politicians who have enriched themselves through illicit trade in opiates, in securing transportation deliveries to ISAF bases, in draining off billions in foreign aid since 2002. All around that neighbourhood Afghans live in hovels and they cannot imagine living other than that for they are abandoned to their fate by a government that simply doesn't care, cannot function, and remains incompetent and governing-illiterate.

The dream of the international community to help an impoverished war-torn country ruled by an ignorant theocratic group of religious fanatics was a noble aspiration, but the best of intentions and personal national sacrifices to go with it, were simply no match for tribal traditions, endemic corruption and the weight of religious heritage. The NATO and UN choice of Hamid Karzai as interim President held promise, but was never realized.

As the foreign presence in the country slowly decreases, all the problems that have assailed the country will return in force; the viciously corrupt, immoral police, the unstable, unprofessional military, the ever-resurgent Taliban, Pakistan's vicious interference, and the country will once again collapse into full dysfunction bringing it to a collision course with its sad destiny.